Trouble falling asleep? Here are some sleep hygiene tips!

[BeachGirl]

Insomnia is highly prevalent and affects approximately 30% of the general population.

Sleep hygiene is defined as a set of behavioral and environmental recommendations intended to promote healthy sleep, and was originally developed for use in the treatment of mild to moderate insomnia.

Here are some tips for healthy sleep:

• Avoid caffeine, alcohol, energy drinks and heavy foods close to bedtime (4-6 hours before bedtime). Harmful effects of caffeine on sleep may be worse on caffeine-sensitive individuals.

• Acute and chronic nicotine administration/smoking disrupts sleep.

• Of course regular and/or acute bouts of exercise produce improvements in sleep. So go out for a walk, do some yoga, or just dance! :)

• Manage stress (this is so hard to do tho), psychosocial stress is associated with difficulties on falling asleep and makes us wake up several times at night. Various stress management strategies have been shown to improve sleep, such as breathing exercises and yoga. Even talking to a friend might makes us feel better. :)

• Prepare your bedroom to sleep! Make sure to use your bed just to sleep and avoid eating, studying, or using your phone/laptop/tablet on it. Sleep in a room with low lighting, low ambient noise and comfy temperature.

• Just go to bed when you are sleepy and avoid remaining in bed too long after waking up.

• Avoid daytime naps You can have them from 30 minutes to 1 hour.

• Create your sleeping routine! You can train your brain when it´s time to sleep. Choose a specific time to go to bed, choose an activity to do always before bed time, for example: taking a shower, drinking tea, massaging your neck and shoulders, reading some pages of a book.

AND AGAIN it´s counterproductive to use screens (phones, tablets, laptops, TV) to "waste" time while you fall asleep. Screens light activate a part of your brain called pituitary gland and makes it believe it´s still daytime! If you really feel you can´t do that use a blue light filter.

This post was created for Vanie!
Hope this helps sweetie! Have a really nice sleep!

References:
Irish LA, Kline CE, Gunn HE, Buysse DJ, Hall MH. The Role of Sleep Hygiene in Promoting Public Health: A Review of Empirical Evidence. Sleep Medicine Reviews [Internet] 2015 [Cited 2019 Oct 14]. 22, 23–36. Available at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4400203/

[BeachGirl]

@A-P If you are depressed, visiting your doctor and receiving your therapy and medication will absolutely help you to get some good sleep. And I understand that feeling tired all the time will lead to depression. So first you and your doctor need to find the main cause.

[A Former User]

@BeachGirl
FIRST I WANNA SAY WOAH THANKS A LOT FOR YOUR CONCERN

SECOND, I WANNA SAY "Medicines help me a lot to sleep".
LAST AND THE LEAST, I WANNA SAY

[Vanie]

@BeachGirl awwwwwwwww thanks girl. You da the best! 😘

[aakash shrivastava]

Guys plzz dont use TRANQUILIZERS aka SLEEPING PILLS as they affect your daily work and routine and there are alot of sideeffects of those too like dizziness, weakness, loss of appetite etc.

[BeachGirl]

@aakash-shrivastava Totally agree with you! They make more damage than help! They're used and prescribed for specific reasons by doctors. We can train our brains to sleep well. It just need some time and work.

[BeachGirl]

@Lurker morning, what is your age? Is it because you have day and night shifts?

[Scottish]

@BeachGirl thanks b.g. x

[A.P]

@BeachGirl what if these don't work?

[A.P]

@BeachGirl any more tips?
Depression and insomnia don't go well together ig you could say

[BeachGirl]

@A-P Hello! If you already tried them for a while (because is a process), but need to go to the doctor. There are several factors that might cause your insomnia. For example, depression leads to insomnia and insomnia lead also to depression. It is needed to treat the main cause. And that should be done with your doctors orders.

Personally, I had a lot of sleeping trouble before. I created and stick to my before bed routine and now I sleep 8 hours, without wakings. And feel so good. I sleep everyday at the same hour, take a shower before bed and drink lemon grass tea.

Hope you feel better soon! Sleeping disorders are not seen as very important stuff, BUT THEY ARE! Chronic sleep deprivation may lead to cognitive impairment.
Remember that your health is ALWAYS first!

[A.P]

@BeachGirl could you pm me to talk some more abt this?

[BeachGirl]

@Vanie Anything for you, sweetie!

[BeachGirl]

@ADeadGhost LOL! Thanks honey! :) You are awesome.

[Kina_Joy]

Take gaba its a calming pill and calms down the brain

[aakash shrivastava]

@BeachGirl people got addicted of these meds nowadays..

[Kina_Joy]

@aakash-shrivastava these pills don't hurt you

[aakash shrivastava]

@Kahina-JBibi sure it wont hurt but you will get psychological dependency of these

[Kina_Joy]

@aakash-shrivastava well I take them every night

[aakash shrivastava]

@Kahina-JBibi see this is the thing i am afraid of. normal person cannot take any medicine on a regular basis. even goodones have side effects too.